With the dust now settling on last night’s ‘UFC On FOX 5’ event we look at what might come next for the big winners on the main card of the show.
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Ben Henderson:
With this win Henderson as firmly cemented himself as the dominant force in the lightweight division at this moment in time, but more challenges await him.
Some people have pointed to the winner of Donald Cerrone Vs Anthony Pettis early next year as the next to challenge for his title, but I think the UFC might have another plan up their sleeve.
Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez will soon join the UFC’s ranks when that promotion folds in January fresh off a seven-fight winning streak, and he’s the perfect opponent for Henderson.
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Alexander Gustafsson:
Leading into last night’s event we had been lead to believe that the winner of Gustafsson Vs Shogun would become the next No.1 contender, but afterwards a different story was starting to emerge.
Dana White suggested that the Swede could well fight again before getting the title shot, and indicated that Dan Henderson’s knee injury might put him out of a UFC 157 fight with Lyoto Machida, and that could lead to Gustafsson slotting in as his replacement.
Gustafsson said post-fight that he’d be happy to take another fight if neccessary and if it come to pass then going up against Machida would be a great stylistic match-up and would establish a true No.1 contender.
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Rory MacDonald:
MacDonald brushed aside Penn with impressive ease and he looks every inch the future of the sport based on this performance.
His friendship with GSP could give Dana White some headaches down the line, but for now MacDonald has his sights set on getting revenge over Carlos Condit, and the UFC president indicated post-fight that he’d be happy to put that fight together next.
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Matt Brown:
Hats off to Brown for producing an unexpected turn in his fortunes over the past year that’s seen him rack up four wins in a row.
I don’t expect him to mount any kind of a serious push up the welterweight ranks, but he’s always entertaining and is a good guy for the UFC to have around.
I’d say fun match-ups are still the order of the day for Brown going forward, and for that reason I’d like to see him up against Dan Hardy who’s also experiencing a resurgence in form of late.
